The calculations, by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), suggest that the gap between the number of midwives the NHS in England needs and the number it now has will not be closed until 2026. The shortage is certain to force maternity units to close suddenly and lead to some mothers receiving inadequate care before, during or after giving birth.

Mary Newburn, head of policy research at the NCT, said: 'There is a major retention problem across the UK but moving staffing provision from midwife-led units into hospital delivery suites is not the answer, and it is certainly not what women want.'When community-based, midwife-led units are closed, women often have to travel miles to hospital to have their babies delivered by unknown, stressed staff, which can lead to tension and further complications, including increased intervention.'

This sounds like a precursor for a "why we need immigrants" story from politicians.

On QT, last week, someone revealed that 26% of doctors in the NHS are immigrants. My first reaction was a bit different from rapturous applause of the audience: my reaction was: "So, why are we not training more doctors?"

Rightly or wrongly, the British education - or at least, the professional education part of it - is still considered to be highly-valued - so, why are we not training more midwives? Or nurses... or... well, most of the medical profession.

Right, immigration is basically stealing workers from other countries. There is highly unlikely to be a surplus of doctors in the rest of the world!None of the parties have a clue about the NHS, they are worried about "funding" it. Hey idiots govt checks don't bounce! It issues the f*cking currency it can't go broke.Limits are real resources. Doctors do not form from the Plasma of the Holy Power of Taxation fully formed.The effects IN GENERAL of immigration are shown here:http://www.3spoken.co.uk/2014/06/how-immigration-affects-uk-economy.html?m=1This is why I say, Basic Income and Open Borders is the best (worst) idea the lefties/"progressives " have had since Eugenics.We should limit immigration but immigrants we invite should have full rights.

Well, I very much doubt that there is a shortage of young people wanting to be doctors, and, given the historic underspends in the NHS, the finger firmly points to incompetence amongst the well-paid bureaucrats whose job it is to fund doctor training.